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BC to vote again on proportional representation

According to The Globe & Mail, courts have ruled that British Columbia can go forward with a referendum on proportional representation in 2018. Pushed by the Green Party, which is part of the NDP’s provincial coalition government, proportional representation would change the current winner-takes-all system. A vote in 2005 was just barely below the 60 percent threshold for validation. In The Tyee, supporters argue that 29 of 35 Western democracies use PR to get a more fair representation of people’s actual political leanings, while opponents claim it will give power to fringe right-wing groups.

Will Mount Rainier and Olympic National Parks increase fee to $70?

The Trump administration has proposed hiking entry fees to the most-visited US national parks, and Mount Rainier and Olympic are on the list. Some argue that a backlog of maintenance requires more revenue. But legendary climber Jim Whittaker recently spoke out against the proposed fee increase: “We have to get people outdoors. Let everyone go. I don’t want to walk the trails with just the 1 percenters.”

 

You can submit comments on the proposed National Park Service fee increase here. (The comment period has been extended to December 22, 2017)

The shameful history of Portland’s embrace of the Ku Klux Klan

At the Portland Mercury, read a  feature detailing  the history of the KKK in Portland. Oregon has a long history of white supremacy, starting with a state constitution that forbid blacks from living there. The 1920s were a particularly terrible time: the Klan vigorously recruited members, passed legislation preventing non-whites from owning property, and helped elect Walter Pierce, a Klan member, as a long-serving governor.

Two views on waking up to the reality of homelessness in Cascadia

In The Tyee, activist Jessica Hannon takes issue with protesters opposed to a plan to build small modular homes in a neighborhood of Vancouver. It’s not kids in danger, she insists, but people like “my friend and Megaphone vendor Mike, who died in an alley off Commercial Drive two weeks before Christmas last year.”
Meanwhile, a pastor for a United Methodist Church writes in the South Seattle Emerald that Jesus would have opposed Seattle’s policy of clearing homeless camps. The homeless, he writes, “are not trash to be swept away because corporations or wealthy homeowners have influence over elected officials.”

Lucinda Parker has made paintings in Portland for nearly fifty years

In a great interview with Oregon Arts Watch, longtime Portland painter Lucinda Parker shares how she became an artist, her most profound influences, and her process: “If you invest each painting with as much energy and decisiveness and invention that you can muster, people are not going to get tired of it.” You can also watch this lovely video profile of Parker on YouTube. That’s all for today from the Pacific Northwest! –Andrew Engelson Photo credits: Lucinda Parker and her paintings from the video Water & Clouds on YouTube; Mount Rainier by Andrew Engelson; Ku Klux Klan march in Ashland, courtesy of Oregon Historical Society Research Library.